Pääministeri Vanhanen Tupakka- ja terveys -konferenssissa 3.8.2003

It s a great pleasure for me to bring the greetings of the Government of Finland to this important conference. We are delighted that Finland has been given the opportunity to host the 12th Conference on Tobacco or Health.

The Finnish Government has always placed great emphasis on all aspects of public health, and tobacco control has consistently been a major priority. Our Parliament passed a comprehensive Law on Tobacco Control as long ago as 1976, which at the time, was the most advanced in the world. That law established a solid framework for sustained tobacco control. It included, among other things, a total ban of all domestic tobacco advertising and a levy on tobacco tax, which has been very important in financing our tobacco control activities.

Since then, we have continued to strengthen the legislation, making it more specific to address such concerns as establishing smoke-free work sites and restaurants. However, I want to emphasize that legal action alone is not enough. We have ensured that legislation has been introduced and implemented hand-in-hand with other tobacco control work, involving a great number of agencies, organizations and individuals. This coherent, multi-sectoral approach, has secured strong public support for legislation and the overall tobacco control approach.

Finland has implemented practically all World Health Organisation recommendations on comprehensive tobacco control policy. And we are happy that this has, indeed, led to great improvements in our public health. I hope that during your stay, you can draw upon our good experiences.

Finland has been a forerunner in tobacco control. Now we are facing new challenges. Due to the accession of new member states in the Union, with much lower taxes on tobacco, Finland will have to lower significantly its own level of taxation of tobacco. This is done in order to prevent an uncontrolled increase of imports of tobacco from the new member states. I believe that the coherent policy that we have pursued for decades will help us in the new situation. Citizens have developed a critical attitude towards tobacco and I don't believe we will see a major increase in smoking despite of lower prices. At the same time we are preparing more strict controls on the sale of tobacco products.

In this situation the Government of Finland is happy to host this significant conference. In spite of the progress that has been made domestically, we recognize that tobacco use is clearly very much an international issue, and that international collaboration is essential for full success. This is why the Finnish Government has always been very supportive of international tobacco control work. During the last few years, this support has obviously been directed at working together with the World Health Organisation, countries of the European Union and other WHO Member States to support the negotiations for the international Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in which we were able to reach a successful conclusion.

I want to thank and congratulate WHO for the sustained commitment and hard work that resulted in the approval of the FCTC. I am extremely happy to see the new Director General of WHO, Dr. Jong-wook Lee, here in Helsinki. You have announced your own commitment to improving public health at the country level. I am convinced that under your leadership, the FCTC can be successfully implemented in countries, and that this will lead to major improvements in public health, with the reduction of tobacco-related chronic disease. WHO can certainly count on continued support from Finland.

I would also like to warmly welcome here Mr David Byrne, the European Commissioner responsible for Health and Consumer Protection. The Finnish Government congratulates you for your efforts and achievements in tobacco control, promotion of public health and disease prevention. We noted with pleasure that the European Commission was among the first to sign the FCTC.

With these words I want to congratulate all of you here for your remarkable achievements in global tobacco control and wish you a very fruitful conference and pleasant stay in Finland. I believe that this Conference will continue to play a major role in winning the global battle against tobacco, the leading preventable cause of death worldwide.

Thank you.